"Whoa!" I yelled as the old stallion disappeared. The others didn't seem as confused as me. They slowly trotted forward into the waves. One by one, they all disappeared. I took off the white blanket they had given me an stared blankly at the waves, searching for a sign of them.

"S-sharky! Hero! Come quick!" I heard Anubis shout in front of me. Ordinarily I would have hesitated a bit more, but I heard something in his voice that I hadn't heard this whole trip. Fear. I ran into the waves, buster sword raised defensively and prepared for... something. I took a deep breath and stepped forward into the waves. Immidiately, the world became cold. The ground was squishy instead of shifty like in the sand. It was dark. Very dark. I couldn't see anything and had to wait for my eyes to adjust again. Now, instead of being warm, it was ice-cold. I re-wrapped the thin blanket around my shoulders to help keep the cold off. I could hear the light breathing of the cultist ponies next to me. There was something else though. There was... rattling.

"Who's making that sound?" I asked loudly. The rattling suddenly stopped.

"Oh no..." I heard Anubis mutter. The rattling started up, louder than before. This time, it was coming towards us. I still couldn't see at all. Nothing was visible, not even my hand in front of my face. Then every unicorn in our group started illuminating the area with light from their horns. I had to blink a few more times to adjust, but then I could see what was going on. We were surounded. Every side of our group was circled by skeletons. Bleached white pony skeletons. If that wasn't creepy enough, these skeletons were moving. Their ancient bones clicked together as they practically danced with a frenzied hunger. Their eyes were filled with unnatural black flames. The ponies quickly drew various weapons and mimicked my defensive stance. They gather around me in a circle, clearly looking to me for leadership. As soon as we were all gathered in a large circle, the skeletons seemed to hesitate. I grinned happily. As long as we stuck together, there was no way these simple creatures would find the bravery to attack. I looked around for a second to see what kinds of weapons the company had.

"All ponies with spears, get to the outer edges of the circle! Move your asses or join the dead!" The ponies, after a minor scramble, readjusted the formation so that the outer ring of the group was entirely made of spear ponies. "Ok, good! Now, every other pony needs to get right behind a spear pony and get ready to cut down any enemy that gets past the spears!" The ponies all nodded at me and lined up. There were exactly thirty-one of us, including myself. Fifteen had spears, ten had swords, and five were unicorns with a bunch of daggers they were levitating. Suddenly, the skeletons seemed to find their bravery. They charged all at once. The first wave all smashed themselves onto the spears. After a few bones shattered, the lights in their eyes went out and their bodies went limp.

"Ohhhhhh yeah!!!" A spear pony shouted. A mare by the sound of it. The ponies swung their spears to the side, tossing the skeletons off of their weapons. While they cleared the weapons, the next set of skeletons charged forward. The ponies with swords easily made quick work of them from directly behind their spear partners. The unicorns sliced the skeletons almost artistically with their daggers. The spear ponies re-set their spears to attack.

"Hey, you all hold this position! Aww hell yeah, time for me to have some fun! I'm going to see if I can clear some extra baddies for us!" I crouched down before I leapt away from the group. I soared just barely over the heads of the outer ring of the ponies. I held out my sword challengingly as the skeletons started circling me as well as the group. The group didn't have a problem repeating their cycle of death, so I turned to my foes and focused on them. The skeletons, eager to find a single seperated enemy, chatter excitedly and rushed at me haphazardly. I made short work of the first skeleton simply by swinging my sword down onto his back and sending him crashing into the ground. I swung around in the same move and cracked the flat of my blade into another skeleton's jaw. He was sent flying head over hooves into another skeleton. I heard some cheering from behind me and I turned to see the cultist ponies cheering me on.

"Whoo! What a hero!"

"Go Sharky go!"

"Make them sorry they didn't stay dead!"

"Focus on your enemies you idiots! Guys, look out!" A skeleton snuck up on the distracted ponies. He grabbed a pony by the throat in his skeletal jaws and dragged her, screaming, into the shadows. "Nooo! You all, back in formation!" I yelled as I sprinted into the dark after the mare. I could hear her screams above the endless chattering of the skeletons. I ran past the light of the unicorns' horns and was thrust into darkness. I didn't allow the sudden darkness to distract me from the endangered mare. I continued running towards her frenzied screams.

"Help me! Help me please, hero!" I could hear her yell. I ran towards the sound of her voice. I could feel Skeletons smash against my legs as I ran. They were flung away and trampled on as I ran madly through the dark. I was stumbling often over the uneven, shifty ground. Then I got hit from on my right arm and was tipped slightly to the left. Another skeleton jumped up and sank its teeth into my left shoulder. I tried to beat the skeleton off of my arm, but more jumped at me and bit into my upper body. I continued to stumble forward, unable to bat the skeletons aside as one after another they jumped onto me and pulled me down. After the fifteenth skeleton hit me, I was barely able to move my arms or legs. Then, another skeleton hit me in my back, sending me face first into the ground. My sword was thrown out of my hand and out of sight. The ground stunk unbelievaly, and the skeletons piled on top of me before I could even try to stand. "Hero! Help me, please!" The mare shouted again, sounding even more desperate.

"I'm not a hero! I don't think I can make it!" I cried as the skeetons tore at me. I punched and slashed at them furiously, but there wasn't much I could do. I was sure this would be my end as well as the mare's.

"You can hero! I believe in you!" She shouted back. The area around me suddenly became lit dimly. I could see where I was punching, and I felt the skeletons suddenly backed off of me slightly. I looked around in confusion as the skeletons that had previously been tearing at me were suddenly backing away like scared foals. I shook my head clear of my worries and quickly found my sword a few feet away from me. I ran to it and hefted it back into a defensive grip as I ran towards the mare's screams. The skeletons didn't even try to approach me as I ran through the dark, now guided by a dim light from behind me. I quickly gained on the mare now that I could see where I was stepping. I finally caught up to her skeleton captor. He had her throat in his jaws and was dragging her across the ground. Now that her white blanket was gone, I could see she was a lime-green earth pony with a white mane.

"Hey! Let her go!" I yelled as I ran forward. The mare gave me a look of pure joy.

"H-hero! I knew you'd make it!" She cried. The skeleton holding her throat in his jaw seemed like he was going to run away, but suddenly, the black flames in his eyes turned green. He seemed to give me an evil smile before biting down on the mare's soft throat. She cried out in pure primal pain as I let out a primitave roar.

"Noooooo!!! That bastard is fucking going down!!" I charged forward right as the skeleton's eye flames faded back to black. He released the mare and stumbled away from me fearfully. I brought the buster sword down hard and fast on the skeleton's skull. It shattered from the force of the blow, sending bone shards everywhere. As the mare next to me gasped in her final breaths, I screamed as I brought down the buster sword on the skeleton's body repeatedly. When I was finally don with it, there was nothing but shards and powder where the skeleton once stood. "Damn man... way to teach that little bitch." As the mare next to me continued to gasp, I ran to her and cradled her to my chest. I dropped my sword and held her to my face as I cried into her coat.

"W-why are you upset...?" She muttered weakly. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"I wasn't fast enough! I wasn't strong enough! I'm... not good enough..." I sobbed into her chest. The mare gave me a weak smile.

"To me... you will always be... The greatest hero... ever... You are great... I believe in you..." With those final words, the mare who devoted her life to being like me, died. I cried as I realized I had never even bothered to learn her name. I cried as I clung to her limp body. Then, I realized the light around me had gone out. The light that had scared the skeletons away, was gone. I held the mare's body in my left arm as I searched around blindly for my sword with my right. I picked it up and sprung to my feet as the chattering of skeletons started up once again. Then, a small orb of light appeared from the mare's body. It illuminated the immediate area, eliciting hisses from the skeletons that were now surrounding me.

"I believe..." The orb whispered in the mare's voice. "I believe, in you." The orb of light circled around the body a few times, as if saying goodbye. Then the orb flew around to my back and I felt a gentle touch. Suddenly the whole area was dimly lit, like before when I had been chasing after the mare. I cautiously started walking towards the distant spot of light that I recognized as the rest of the group. Skeletons hissed at me, but they didn't dare to move forward. I eventually made it back to the main group, luckily for them. As soon as I entered the circle of light, a bunch of skeletons fled from the circle of ponies. The group, looking slightly more ragged than before, let out a huge cheer as they saw me coming back.

"Sharky! I see you brought back Lime Light--" Anubis started until I shook my head sadly and lowered the mare's body. I noticed now that her cutie mark was a spotlight.

"Lime Light... The mare who died trying to be like me..." I muttered lowly. The group allowed themselves a suprised gasp as they watched the fleeing skeletons.

"S-she's... dead?" One mare whispered as she turned away from the cowardly monsters. I nodded again as I held out her body. The group slowly allowed themselves to relax as they realized the skeletons wouldn't stop running for a while.

"I... I couldn't do anything to stop it... I'm so freaking worthless as a knight..."

"Now see here!" Anubis snapped at me. "You are a fine knight! I'm sure there was nothing more you could do for dear Lime Light. Beating yourself up about it won't get you anywhere! Now, about this peculiar light..." Anubis pointed to my back. I gave him a confused look before setting down my sword and reaching to my back. Lime Light was taken out of my hands by a few ponies and I pulled my old axe out of its strap. The silver moon on both sides of the axe was glowing brightly enough to light up a small area of the dark. Anubis gasped.

"What?What happened? It wasn't glowing like this before!" I quickly asked. Anubis held a hoof up to his mouth.

"Sharky, did you hear Lime Light's last words?"

"... Yes. Yes I did."

"What were they?"

"She... She told me she believed in me... She thought I was a great hero..." I muttered sadly as I remembered the mare dying in my arms.

"Sharky... Wow... That symbol... It was meant to symbolize our belief in you... It seems... Lime Light's belief has manifested in the weapon!" I frowned at him.

"A mare just died, and you're concerened about weapons?" I asked coldly. Anubis shook his head quickly.

"You don't understand! Lime Light's belief is manifested in your axe! Do you know what that means?!"

"Does it mean she's coming back to life? That's the only thing important enough for this to matter."

"Well... no... but, judging by what I just saw... This blade is now more powerful somehow... Powerful enough to scare those skeletons away!"

"Yeah, scaring off low-level undead is really worth the life of a pony." I sheathed the axe, the light seemed to dim a little. Anubis seemed taken back and unable to react to what I said. I stood up and turned to face the group. "Look, we're leaving. Now. I don't want any more ponies to die." The group all mumbled and looked to their hooves. One stallion stepped forward. His eyes were red and there were tear streaks down his face.

"S-sir... Lime Light... Was my wife." He announced. "If I turn back now... I'll never be able to live knowing I gave up on her last wish... to stop that madpony. She believed in you with all her heart, as do I." The light grew brighter. "I know even if we all leave... You wouldn't." I raised my eyebrow at his very accurate statement. "I'm going with you, to fufill my wife's last desire!" There was a great roar of approval from the crowd as the stallion finished his speech. The crowd all stepped forward and saluted me. I took a small step back in suprise and shock. Anubis walked up to my side.

"All these ponies believe in you. Lime Light believed in you. We want to end this threat, and you are the only one who can help. Please Sharky, for Lime Light. Help us end this oncoming threat." Anubis pleaded. I sighed deeply before walking over to the stallion that had been married to Lime Light.

"What's your name?" I asked him gently. He looked up to me as another tear rolled down his cheek.

"I'm Spot Light..." He whispered.

"Were you and your wife actors?" He smilled slightly.

"Yeah... it's how we met actually... My other wife is an actor too... Luckily she didn't come with me." I tilted my head at him.

"Other?"

"What? O-other wife? What about her?"

"Why do you have two-- You know what, this isn't important right now. You have foals?" He nodded somberly. "Then you should go back to them instead of risking your life here." I stood up and looked to all of the ponies. "You all should leave and go back to your families."

"With all due respect Sir Sharky, if I don't fight here, we're all dead anyway." Spot Light spoke up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why? What is this great threat anyway?"

"I told you already, a unicorn has claimed the Libro Mors! We have to stop him!" Anubis spoke up from my side.

"Well what the heck is the Libro Mors? Why the hell are we in an area where skeletons attack? Why is this all so important?! I would like some answers!" I yelled at him. He flinched back. He gave me a confused look before a he seemed to suddenly understand me.

"Oh, you'll have to forgive me. I've neglected to realize that you may not be familiar with our legends. You see, this land is what we call the forbidden realm. It used to have a name, but it has been long forgotten by anypony but Luna and Celestia. Maybe a few dragons as well." Anibus started to explain.

"The Deadlands." I remembered my talk with Esmerelda. "She said it was only a rumor now... How did you know this place was even real? From what I heard, this place should only be legend to you guys!"

"It's mostly a hunch..."

"... You traveled for four days across a desert... on a hunch."

"... Yes."

"Do I even have to point out the fucking stupidity here? Anubis, that's ridiculous! You could've gotten everypony here killed from thirst or hunger in the desert!" Anubis looked to the ground.

"Well... it is a little silly... To be honest, I was hoping I was wrong about this place. You see, the reason we're here is because a unicorn has claimed the Libro Mors." I blinked blankly a few times. "... The Book of Death?" I still didn't react. Anubis sighed. "It's a book of forbidden spells that allows a unicorn to raise the dead and control them." I nodded.

"Ok, I see the power this book has, but if what I've heard is correct, the undead can't leave this area anyway. Why does it matter if he's in this realm with a book?"

"Well... These creatures have no direction. No influence. If many of them were to attack at once, the shield could break."

"Ok, well it shouldn't be too hard for the princesses to just re-seal or even just kill these undead right?"

"Sharky, the first time they did this they had to stop moving the sun and moon for seven days straight."

"... That doesn't sound great..."

"It gets worse..."

"Fan fucking tastic."

"You see, since this place was sealed all those years ago, many ponies that thought themselves great heroes have ventured here to try and cleanse it. Some mad ponies who considered the undead a superior race, even just lost travelers have wandered in here. They were never heard from again."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything..." Anubis nodded his head to the ground. I looked down and balked at the sight. Now that I wasn't fighting skeletons and the ground was illuminated by unicorn lights, I could see that the ground consisted entirely of dead ponies. I gasped in pure terror and I could feel my stomach roll with my disgust. My stomach revolted against me and I turned to the side as I threw up all over even more pony corpses. I retched a few more times as my stomach emptied itself onto the macabre scene beneath me. I pulled off my right gauntlet and wiped my mouth after I finished vomiting.

"An understandable reaction." Anubis consoled. "It's a truly terrible thing to behold."

"S-so... That unicorn... he's going to resurrect a-all these corpses?!"

"I believe so, yes."

"... Dear god... We're fucked."

"Relax Steven, we are going to stop this madpony before he releases this plague on Equestria."

"That's what I'm worried about. You're gonna fucking die and drag me down with you. Now I understand why you came here... but I have one more question." Anubis nodded respectfully before responding.

"Okay, Go ahead."

"How the hell did he get the book in the first place? Wouldn't something like this be locked up?" I asked suspiciously. Anubis smiled at me and opened his mouth. Then he closed it and frowned. He tilted he head curiously and seemed to be in deep thought.

"I don't know." He finally answered. "According to legend the book is locked in the royal vault. I don't know how a common unicorn would have gotten it..." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully as I pondered that.

"Well, we can ask him when we find him. Let's get him guys." The ponies all grinned and let out a huge whoop. The light from my axe intensified as they cheered. It faded again as the cheering died down. As soon as it was quiet, I spoke up again. "So... uhh... where is he?" I asked. The ponies all looked to each other back and forth before staring at Anubis blankly. "Anubis, please tell me you know where we're going..."

"Uhhh..."

"Great... You're all idiots. Well, let's travel along the outside of the giant force field to see if we can find something..." The group murmered small agreements as we set off into the dark.